Monday, January 26, 2009

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UN’s Special Torture Rapporteur: Bush, Rumsfeld Should be Pursued for Torture

BERLIN (AFP) — The UN's special torture rapporteur called on the US Tuesday to pursue former president George W. Bush and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld for torture and bad treatment of Guantanamo prisoners.

"Judicially speaking, the United States has a clear obligation" to bring proceedings against Bush and Rumsfeld, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak said, in remarks to be broadcast on Germany's ZDF television Tuesday evening.

He noted Washington had ratified the UN convention on torture which required "all means, particularly penal law" to be used to bring proceedings against those violating it.

"We have all these documents that are now publicly available that prove that these methods of interrogation were intentionally ordered by Rumsfeld," against detainees at the US prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Nowak said.

"But obviously the highest authorities in the United States were aware of this," added Nowak, who authored a UN investigation report on the Guantanamo prison. (Read More)

DEFENDING "GOOD FAITH" TORTURE

U.S. Senator John Cornyn Promotes Washington’s “Good Faith” Torturers - Delays Vote for Attorney General Nominee Over Waterboarding

COMMENT: John W. Dean, FindLaw.com columnist and former counsel to the president - January 23, 2009: “Remarkably, the confirmation of President Obama's Attorney General nominee, Eric Holder, is being held up by Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn, who apparently is unhappy that Holder might actually investigate and prosecute Bush Administration officials who engaged in torture. Aside from this repugnant new Republican embrace of torture (which might be a winning issue for the lunatic fringe of the party and a nice way to further marginalize the GOP), any effort to protect Bush officials from legal responsibility for war crimes, in the long run, will not work.

It is difficult to believe that Eric Holder would agree not to enforce the law, like his recent Republican predecessors. Indeed, if he were to do so, President Obama should withdraw his nomination. But as MSNBC "Countdown" anchor Keith Olbermann stated earlier this week, even if the Obama Administration for whatever reason does not investigate and prosecute these crimes, this still does not mean that the Bush Administration officials who were involved in torture are going to get a pass.

With few exceptions, the discussion about what the Obama Administration will do regarding the torture of detainees during the Bush years has been framed as a domestic matter, and the fate of those involved in torturing has been largely viewed as a question of whether the Department of Justice will take action. In fact, not only is the world watching what the Obama Administration does regarding Bush's torturers, but other countries are very likely to take action if the United States fails to do so. (Read More)

BUSINESS AS USUAL? Obama’s Envoy Won’t Introduce Any New Policies, Israeli President Assures

Mitchell Heads to Israel as Fragile Ceasefire Talks Continue

January 25, 2009

New US Envoy George Mitchell will be arriving in the Middle East by Wednesday, but Israeli President Shimon Peres sees no reason for the Israeli government to be concerned.

“These are mere overtures by the new US administration in order to learn more about the situation,” Peres insisted, saying that Mitchell would not be pressuring Israel on policy or introducing any sort of new US policies for the Obama Administration.

Other officials had speculated the Obama Administration would pressure Israel on the illegal outposts in the West Bank, something the Bush Administration repeatedly attempted (unsuccessfully) to do. With the new president seemingly as reluctant as the last one to criticize Israel on broader policies, like the 22-day war in the Gaza Strip, it seems there is little cause for concern in the Israeli government.

But when Mitchell arrives the emphasis is likely to be placed on shoring up the still fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. This effort is likely to be considerably hampered by the fact that while Mitchell intends to meet with Israeli officials and Fatah President Abbas, he will not be meeting with any Hamas officials during the visit.

BUSINESS AS USUAL? Biden Indicates US Attacks in Pakistan Will Continue

New VP Won't Comment on Latest Strikes

January 25, 2009

Answering questions about US policy with respect to its ongoing attacks in Pakistan, Vice President Joe Biden pointed reporters to President Obama’s comments during the campaign that “if there is an actionable target, of a high-level Al-Qaeda personnel, that he would not hesitate to use action to deal with that.”

As far as last week’s attacks in North and South Waziristan, which killed 22 people including a number of children, Biden declared that “I can’t speak to any particular attack. I can’t speak to any particular action. It’s not appropriate for me to do that.”[???] Pakistan has repeatedly complained about the attacks, saying they undermine the nation’s efforts to isolate militant groups along the border region.